I think I love all holidays. I love any excuse to celebrate anything and
change the daily routine. I particularly like Halloween because it involves
dressing up, carving pumpkins, and eating chocolate. Unfortunately I can only
say I did one of the three this year (that would be the chocolate, of course)
but I still feel that I have sufficiently celebrated. Since Halloween is a Western holiday,
it seemed Koreans only celebrated to the extent they like to participate in
American pop culture, however, it was a fun opportunity to teach American
culture at school. Festivities involved spooky decorations, black tablecloths,
Halloween games, and, of course, candy. Some students wore costumes to school
even though Korean children don’t go trick-or-treating. I had several witches,
a princess, a Snow White, and a Peter Pan. At the shopping malls (which,
confusingly, are called department stores) the stores put out candy and mannequins
fashioned witches hats. Despite the appearance of decorations, Koreans didn’t embrace
the true spirit and festive activities behind the holiday…which are obviously to
test humanly limits of candy consumption. Halloween parties could be had in
Itaewon, the international area of the city, but two days of being around excited
kids left me feeling fully celebrated. And in true Halloween fashion, I
have a bag of candy that will last me the next few weeks...but don't expect me to be eating any Reese's...can't find them here...
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